1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to apparatus and method for time-division multiplexing of a dedicated channel.
2. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
The talk time of UTRAN User Equipment (UE) still lags that of 2G devices considerably. Any technique that allows a UE to turn off the receiver and transmitter during a voice call, leads to UE modem battery savings. Furthermore such opportunities should not come at the expense of degrading link efficiency or coverage performance. Accordingly, there is a need to improve talk time of UTRAN UE devices.